System and method for IP telephony paging

ABSTRACT

An IP-telephony system including one or more nodes coupled to a session controller. Each node includes a service gateway coupled to one or more terminals. A first terminal conveys a start page request initiating a page activity between itself and one or more terminating terminals. The session controller receives the start page request and in response, conveys first control signals to one or more service gateways, each first control signal containing information identifying which of the terminals associated with a service gateway is a terminating terminal. In response to the first control signal, each service gateway conveys second control signals to its associated terminating terminals. The first terminal conveys a media packet to the first service gateway during a page activity. The first service gateway forwards the media packet to one or more designated terminating terminals.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of telephony, and moreparticularly to Internet Protocol (IP) based telephony.

2. Description of the Related Art

IP-based telephony refers to the technology to make telephone calls andsend faxes over IP-based data networks with a suitable quality ofservice (QoS) and superior cost/benefit ratio. Some of the motivatingfactors for development of IP-based telephony are lower cost,consolidation of network infrastructure, and ability to support advancedapplications. Lower costs may be achieved primarily by substantiallyreducing long distance telephone charges. Consolidation of networkinfrastructure may include an integrated voice/data network that allowsmore standardization and reduces total equipment needs. In addition, thenumber of failure points may be reduced, accounting systems may beconsolidated, and operations may be combined, thereby increasing theoverall operating efficiency. Advanced applications such as multimediaand multi-service applications may be more readily supported by IP-basedtelephony systems. These benefits are expected to drive substantialgrowth in the IP-based telephony market over the near future.

Demand for IP-based telephony, particularly in the business market, hasincluded a demand for hosted solutions. In hosted IP-telephony, asolution provider may operate one or more servers connected to theInternet that host a telephony application to which a client connects anumber of terminals equipped to exchange IP packets. Common clientterminals include an IP-telephone or a computer configured to operate asan IP-telephony client. Hosted IP-telephony solutions may be expected toprovide an alternative to premise-based solutions such as a privatebranch exchange (PBX), IP-based private branch exchange (IPBX), keysystems, etc. In order to compete with such premise based solutions, itmay be desirable to provide a number of features and functions commonlyseen in premise based solutions. One such feature/function is desktopvoice paging which utilizes the desktop business telephone set and itsbuilt-in speaker-phone as a paging terminal. Unfortunately, support forvoice paging is not readily available in terminal-to-terminal IP-basedtelephony systems.

Accordingly, systems and methods for providing paging functionalitywithin the context of IP-telephony systems is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of a hosted IP-telephony system are disclosed. Inone embodiment, a hosted IP-telephony system includes one or more nodescoupled to a session controller. Each node includes a service gatewaycoupled to one or more terminals. A first terminal is configured toinitiate a page between the first terminal and one or more terminatingterminals by conveying a start page request. The session controller isconfigured to receive the start page request and in response, convey oneor more first control signals to one or more respective servicegateways, each of said first control signals containing informationidentifying which of the one or more terminals associated with arespective service gateway is a terminating terminal. In response to thefirst control signal, each service gateway is configured to convey oneor more second control signals to its associated terminating terminals.In one embodiment, the start page request is received by a servicegateway associated with the first terminal. The service gateway isconfigured to forward the start page request to the session controller.

In a further embodiment, the first terminal is configured to convey amedia packet to the first service gateway during a page activity. Thefirst service gateway is configured to forward the media packet to oneor more designated terminating terminals. Information contained in atleast one of the first control signals identifies the designatedterminating terminals.

In a still further embodiment, the first terminal is configured toconvey a media packet to the first service gateway during a pageactivity. In response to determining one or more terminating terminalsare associated with a remote node, the first service gateway isconfigured to propagate the media packet to one or more other servicegateways associated with the remote terminals. In response todetermining one or more terminating terminals are included in the localnode, the service gateway is configured to reflect the mediate packetback to the terminating terminals of the local node. Informationcontained in at least one of the first control signals identifies thesecond service gateway. The second service gateway is configured toforward the media packet to one or more designated terminatingterminals. Information contained in at least one of the first controlsignals identifies the designated terminating terminals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a generalized block diagram of one embodiment of a hostedIP-telephony system.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the control signal connectionsbetween a session controller and service gateways.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a service gateway.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of the connections between a terminaland a service gateway.

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a process that may be used by aninitiating terminal in a hosted IP-telephony system during a pageactivity.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a process that may be used by aservice gateway in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle controlsignals.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a process that may be used by aservice gateway in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle media packets.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a process that may be used by asession controller in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle controlsignals.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a process that may be used by aterminating terminal in a hosted IP-telephony system during a pageactivity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a generalized block diagram of one embodiment of a hostedIP-telephony system 100. System 100 includes terminals 120A-120D,130A-130C, and 140A-140C. In on embodiment, terminals 120, 130, and 140comprise telephones. Terminals 120A-120D are coupled to a servicegateway 150, terminals 130A-130C are coupled to a service gateway 160,and terminals 140A-140C are coupled to a service gateway 170. Servicegateways 150, 160, and 170 are further coupled to a session controller180. In one embodiment, each service gateway and the terminals coupledto it may be referred to as a node. Each node may be a physical or alogical node. For example, each node may represent a separate departmentin a single facility, separate floor of a building, or separatelocations entirely, etc. Although in the illustrated embodiment, threeservice gateways are shown coupled to session controller 180, in otherembodiments, more or fewer than three service gateways may be coupled tosession controller 180. In addition, in various embodiments, any numberof terminals may be associated with each service gateway. Generallyspeaking, a service gateway, such as gateways 150, 160, and 170,comprise any system or device that operates to mediate communicationsbetween terminals or other gateways, as well as between terminals andexternal devices (e.g. IP devices), such as telephones on othernetworks, Trunking Gateways, or telephones or devices on the PSTN(Public Switched Telephone Network), ISDN (Integrated Services DigitalNetwork), or FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface), among others.Elements referred to herein with a particular reference number followedby a letter may be collectively referred to by the reference numberalone. For example, terminals 120A-120D may be collectively referred toas terminals 120.

Control signals, illustrated as dashed lines in FIG. 1, for initiatingand terminating IP-telephony activities may be transmitted and receivedbetween each terminal and its associated service gateway as well asbetween each service gateway and session controller 180. Additionaldetails of the exchange of control signals are provided below. DuringIP-telephony activities, media packets (e.g., containing voice data) mayflow from an initiating terminal to its associated service gateway(i.e., the service gateway which is part of the local node) and to oneor more terminating terminals and/or to additional service gateways andterminals. For example, terminal 120A is shown transmitting mediapackets to service gateway 150. Service gateway 150 forwards thereceived media packets to terminals 120B-120D and to service gateways160 and 170. Service gateway 160 forwards the received media packets toterminals 130A-130C. Service gateway 170 forwards the received mediapackets to terminals 140A-140C. Additional details of the exchange ofmedia packets are provided below.

In the illustrated embodiment, terminal 120A is shown as thetransmitting terminal. Of course, during other IP-telephony activities,any of terminals 120A-120D, 130A-130C, and 140A-140C may be transmittingterminals. In addition, any number of terminals 120A-120D, 130A-130C,and 140A-140C may be terminating terminals, including a single terminal,all terminals, or a subset of all terminals, depending on the desiredIP-telephony activity.

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of the control signal connectionsbetween a session controller 180 and service gateways 150, 160, and 170.Session controller 180 includes a control signal unit 210. In thescenario illustrated in FIG. 2, service gateway 150 is associated with aterminal that originates an IP-telephony page activity and each ofservice gateways 150, 160, and 170 is associated with one or moreterminals that participate in the page activity as either a transmitteror a receiver of media packets. Service gateway 150 may be referred toas a primary service gateway and service gateways 160 and 170 may bereferred to as secondary service gateways. During operation, a startpage request 220 received by service gateway 150 from an initiatingterminal may be forwarded to session controller 180 in order to start apage activity. In one embodiment, start page request 220 may includeinformation indicating the desired terminals to be included in the page,such as by including a list of telephone numbers. In alternativeembodiments, various other types of information indicating the desiredterminals to be included in the page may be included in start pagerequest 220 such as the identification of one or more groups whosemembers are terminating terminals. Control signal unit 210 may receivestart page request 220 and in response transmit control signals 250,260, and 270 to service gateways 150, 160, and 170; respectively.Control signal 250 may contain information indicating which terminalscoupled to primary service gateway 150 are requested to participate inthe page activity. In addition, the control signal(s) 250 may identifyother gateways (e.g., gateways 160 and/or 170) which are associated withterminals targeted for participation in the paging activity. Controlsignal 260 may contain information indicating which terminals coupled toservice gateway 160 are requested to participate in the page activity.Similarly, control signal 270 may contain information indicating whichterminals coupled to service gateway 170 are requested to participate inthe page activity. As used herein, a “page” or “paging” may compriseconveying any combination of audio, video, and/or other data. Further,such a conveyance may be directed to, or conveyed to, any of one or moredevices.

As described above, control signal unit 210 may provide control signalsto each service gateway involved in a page activity. In one embodiment,session controller 180 maintains, or otherwise has access to,information identifying associations between terminals and servicegateways. Such information may be maintained in a centrally locateddatabase, remotely located database, or any other suitable manner. Inthis manner, the session controller 180 may identify which servicegateways (150, 160, and/or 170) are to participate in initiated pageactivity. For example, such a database may include an identification ofeach of the terminating terminals in a system, as well as the servicegateways to which they are coupled. In addition to having uniqueabstract identifiers for each of the terminals, terminals may also beassociated with particular individuals. Further, terminals and/orindividuals may be associated with one or more groups. For example,selected terminals which are part of different nodes may be identifiedas being part of a “Sales” group. The Sales group may then have anidentifier which can be used to refer to all terminals associated withthe group. Should an individual wish to initiate a page to a particulargroup, the start request may simply include an identification of thegroup. Responsive to receiving the page request, the session controller180 may then determine which terminals and/or gateways are associatedwith the group. In the following discussion, details of how a servicegateway handles information received from session controller 180 aregiven.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a service gateway 150that includes a control signal distributor 310, a packet receiving unit302 which includes remote feed logic 320 and local feed logic 330, apacket transceiver 340, a propagator 350, and a reflector 360. Controlsignal distributor 310 may be coupled to propagator 350, and reflector360. Remote feed 320 and local feed 330 may each separately convey mediapackets to packet transceiver 340. Alternatively, packet receiving unit302 may convey both remote and locally fed data to packet transceiver340 as a non-differentiated stream. Propagator 350 and reflector 360 mayeach transmit packets received from packet transceiver 340.

In one embodiment, configuration of a page activity may proceed asfollows. Control signal distributor 310 may receive a start page request304 from a terminal attempting to initiate a page activity. Acorresponding start page request 305 may then be forwarded to sessioncontroller 180. Control signals 306 returned from session controller 180may be used to configure service gateway 150. For example, in responseto the control signal(s) 306 (and possibly the request 304) controlsignals may be sent to propagator 350 and/or reflector 360, depending onthe number and location of terminals involved in the desired pageactivity. Control signal distributor 310 may further distribute controlsignals 307 to terminals that are coupled locally to service gateway150. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, control signaldistributor 310 distributes signals to terminals 120A, 120C, and 120D.Propagator 350 may receive control signals indicating which additionalgateways are to receive media packets targeted to terminals that are notcoupled to service gateway 150. Reflector 360 may receive controlsignals indicating which terminals that are coupled to service gateway150 are to receive media packets during a page activity.

Once the service gateway 150 has been configured for a page activity,media packets may be processed and directed appropriately. For example,remote feed 320 may receive media packets from a remote service gatewayif the initiating terminal is not coupled to service gateway 150, thatis, if service gateway 150 is a secondary service gateway. Media packetsreceived from remote feed 320 may be sent by packet transceiver 340 toreflector 360. Reflector 360 may forward received media packets to thelocal terminals that have been indicated during configuration to beparticipating in a page activity. Alternatively, if service gateway 150is a primary service gateway, local feed 330 may receive media packetsfrom an initiating terminal. Media packets received from local feed 330may be sent by packet transceiver 340 to both propagator 350 andreflector 360. Propagator 350 may forward received media packets toadditional service gateways to which terminals are connected that havebeen indicated during configuration to be participating in a pageactivity. Reflector 360 may forward received media packets to the localterminals that have been indicated during configuration to beparticipating in a page activity.

In an alternative embodiment, control signals may be sent to packettransceiver 340 rather than to propagator 350 and reflector 360. In thatcase, packet transceiver 340 may be configured to forward media packetsreceived from local feed 330 to propagator 350 only if control signalsindicate there are additional service gateways to which terminals areconnected that are participating in a page activity. Also, packettransceiver 340 may be configured to forward media packets received fromlocal feed 330 to reflector 360 only if control signals indicate thereare terminals connected to service gateway 150 that are participating ina page activity.

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of the connections between a terminal120A and a service gateway 150. Terminal 120A may output control signalsto service gateway 150 such as a start page request or an end pagerequest. Terminal 120A may receive control signals as inputs fromservice gateway 150. For instance, if terminal 120A is the originator ofa page activity, it may receive a control signal 420 indicating that aconfiguration of the page activity is complete, further indicating thatterminal 120A may begin transmitting media packets, such as media packetoutput 430. In addition, after transmitting an end page request,terminal 120A may receive a control signal 420 indicating that the pageactivity is complete. Alternatively, if terminal 120A is not theoriginator of a page activity, it may receive a control signal 420causing it to become active (e.g., go off-hook) in anticipation ofreceiving media packets, such as media packet, input 440. Such controlsignals may also configure a receiving terminal to listen to aparticular port for the media packets. In addition, terminal 120A mayreceive a control signal 420 indicating the end of a page activity andcausing it to enter an idle state (e.g., go on-hook).

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a process 500 that may be used byan initiating terminal in a hosted IP-telephony system during a pageactivity. An initiating terminal may begin a page activity by sending astart page request (block 510). The initiating terminal may then wait toreceive a control signal indicating that other elements involved in therequested page activity have been configured in an active state (block520). Alternatively, the initiating terminal may simply await a signalindicating it may proceed with the page. Once this control signal hasbeen received, the initiating terminal may send media packets until thepage activity is complete (block 530). To terminate the page activity,an end page request may be sent (block 540) by the initiating terminal.The initiating terminal may then wait to receive a control signalindicating that other elements involved in the page activity have beenconfigured in an idle state (block 550). Once this control signal hasbeen received, the page activity is ended (block 560).

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a process 600 that may be used by aservice gateway in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle controlsignals. At the beginning of a page activity, a start page request maybe received from an initiating terminal (block 610). In response, thestart page request may be forwarded to a session controller (block 620).Next, one or more start page control signals may be conveyed by thesession controller (block 630). In response to receiving controlsignal(s) from the session controller, one or more service gateways maysend control signals to local terminals, i.e., those terminals that arecoupled to the service gateway that are involved, in the page signal,including the initiating terminal (block 642). Also, a reflector used tosend media packets to local terminals may be activated (block 644). Inaddition, a propagator used to send media packets to additional servicegateways associated with remote terminating terminals that are involvedin the requested page activity may be activated (block 646). To end thepage activity, an end page request may be received from the initiatingterminal (block 650). In response, the end page request may be forwardedto a session controller (block 660). Next, one or more end page controlsignals may be received from the session controller (block 670). Inresponse, the reflector and propagator may be placed in an idle state(block 682). In addition, end page control signals may be sent to localterminals (block 684). Once these control signal have been distributed,the page activity is ended (block 690).

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a process 700 that may be used by aservice gateway in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle media packets.Process 700 begins with the enabling of a packet transceiver (block710). Once enabled, the packet transceiver may receive a media packet(block 720). The packet transceiver may detect the type of feed fromwhich the packet was received (decision block 730). If the feed is alocal feed, the packet transceiver may determine if the packet istargeted to one or more remote terminating terminals (decision block740) and if so, send the media packet to a propagator (block 750). Next,the packet transceiver may determine if the packet is targeted to one ormore local terminating terminals (decision block 760) and if so, sendthe media packet to a reflector (block 770). If the feed is a remotefeed or a local feed that is not targeted to any remote terminatingterminals, the packet transceiver may send the media packet to thereflector (block 770) but not to the propagator. After sending the mediapacket to the reflector and/or the propagator, the packet transceivermay return to block 720 to await arrival of the next media packet.

In the embodiment described in the preceding discussions of FIG. 6 andFIG. 7, the service gateway uses information from the received controlsignals indicating the locations of participating terminals to determinewhether or not to send media packets to the reflector and/or thepropagator. In an alternative embodiment, the service gateway mayforward the information from the received control signals indicating thelocations of participating terminals to the reflector and propagator,which may then be configured to forward media packets accordingly. Inthis embodiment, the packet transceiver may forward all media packets toboth the reflector and propagator, each of which is configured toforward the media packets only to participating terminals according tothe information received in the control signals.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a process 800 that may be used by asession controller in a hosted IP-telephony system to handle controlsignals. Process 800 begins with the detection of a page request (block810). Once a page request is detected, the type of request may bedetermined (decision block 820). If the request is a start request, asession may be started (block 830). Next, the locations of terminatingterminals may be determined (block 840) and corresponding informationinserted into one or more start page control signals, which may be sentto participating service gateways (block 850). After sending the startpage control signals, the session controller may return to block 810 toawait arrival of the next page request. If the request is an endrequest, it may be matched to an active session (block 860). Next, oneor more end page control signals may be sent to service gatewaysparticipating in the matching session (block 870). After sending the endpage control signals, the session is ended (block 880) and the sessioncontroller may return to block 810 to await arrival of the next pagerequest.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a process 900 that may be used by aterminating terminal in a hosted IP-telephony system during a pageactivity. Prior to the start of a page activity, a terminating terminalmay be in an idle state (block 910). At the start of a page activity, acontrol signal may be received (block 920), causing the terminatingterminal to enter an active state, e.g. go off-hook (block 930). In theactive state, the terminating terminal may receive a media packet (block940) and convert it to a media output (block 950). If an end of pagecontrol signal is not received (decision block 960) the terminatingterminal may remain in the active state ready to receive another mediapacket (block 930). If an end of page control signal is received(decision block 960) the terminating terminal may return to the idlestate (block 910).

It is noted that the above described embodiments may comprise software.In such an embodiment, the program instructions which implement themethods and/or mechanisms may be conveyed or stored on a computerreadable medium. Numerous types of media which are configured to storeprogram instructions are available and include hard disks, floppy disks,CD-ROM, DVD, flash memory, programmable ROMs (PROM), random accessmemory (RAM), and various other forms of volatile or non-volatilestorage. Thus, various embodiments may further include receiving,sending or storing instructions and/or data implemented in accordancewith the foregoing description upon a computer readable medium.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

1. A telephone system comprising: a session controller; and one or morenodes coupled to the session controller, wherein each node includes aservice gateway coupled to one or more terminals; wherein each servicegateway of the one or more nodes is comprised of at least a reflector,propagator, and control signal distributor, and wherein each servicegateway of the one or more nodes includes its own said reflector, ownsaid propagator, and own said control signal distributor; wherein afirst terminal of a first node is configured to convey a media packet toa first service gateway during a page activity; wherein in response todetermining one or more terminating terminals are associated with one ormore remote nodes, the first service gateway is configured to propagatethe media packet to one or more other service gateways associated withthe one or more terminating terminals; wherein in response todetermining one or more terminating terminals are included in the firstnode, the first service gateway is configured to reflect the mediapacket back to the one or more terminating terminals included in thefirst node; wherein the first terminal of the first node is configuredto convey a start page request to the first service gateway to initiatea page activity between the first terminal and one or more terminatingterminals, and wherein the first service gateway is configured to conveythe start page request to the session controller; and wherein inresponse to receiving the start page request from the first servicegateway, the session controller is configured to convey one or morefirst control signals to one or more respective service gateways,wherein each of said respective service gateways is different from thefirst service gateway.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the start pagerequest includes information identifying the one or more terminatingterminals; wherein each of said first control signals containsinformation identifying which of the one or more terminals associatedwith a respective service gateway is a terminating terminal; and whereinin response to receiving the first control signals, each of saidrespective service gateways is configured to convey one or more secondcontrol signals to its associated terminating terminals.
 3. The systemof claim 2, wherein the session controller is configured to store dataidentifying the service gateway to which each terminal is coupled. 4.The system of claim 2, wherein the first terminal is configured toconvey a media packet to the first service gateway during a pageactivity; and wherein in response to receiving the at least one of saidfirst control signals, the control signal distributor of the firstservice gateway is configured to: convey control signals to thereflector indicating which terminals coupled to the first servicegateway are to receive media packets during a page activity; and conveycontrol signals to the propagator indicating which service gateways areto receive media packets targeted to terminals that are not coupled tothe first service gateway.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein in responseto receiving the second control signal, each terminating terminal isconfigured to enter an active state; and wherein in the active state,each terminating terminal is configured to translate received mediapackets into telephony signals.
 6. The system of claim 2, wherein thefirst terminal is configured to convey a media packet to the firstservice gateway during a page activity; wherein the first servicegateway is configured to forward said media packet to a second servicegateway of the one or more respective service gateways; and whereininformation contained in at least one of said first control signalsidentifies the second service gateway.
 7. The system of claim 6, whereinthe second service gateway is configured to forward said media packet toone or more designated terminating terminals; and wherein informationcontained in at least one of said first control signals identifies thedesignated terminating terminals.
 8. The system of claim 2, wherein thefirst terminal is configured to convey an end page request to the firstservice gateway to terminate a page activity.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein said session controller comprises a remotely located serverhosted by a service provider, and wherein said one or more nodes arecoupled to share said session controller via the Internet.
 10. Thesystem of claim 9, wherein said start page request corresponds to agroup including a first terminating terminal associated with the firstnode, and a second terminating terminal associated with a second nodedifferent from the first node.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein saidpage activity comprises conveying voice data from the first terminal toeach of the one or more terminating terminals, wherein when said voicedata is received by the terminating terminals, each of the terminatingterminals automatically provides said voice data via a built-inspeakerphone without a user acknowledging the page request.
 12. AnIP-telephony service gateway comprising: a reflector; a propagator; apacket transceiver unit; and a control signal distributor; wherein inresponse to the service gateway receiving a media packet from a firstterminal of a first node during a page activity and the service gatewaydetermining one or more terminating terminals are associated with one ormore remote nodes, the propagator is configured to propagate the mediapacket to one or more other service gateways associated with the one ormore terminating terminals; wherein in response to the service gatewaydetermining one or more terminating terminals are included in the firstnode, the reflector is configured to reflect the media packet back tothe one or more terminating terminals included in the first node;wherein the service gateway is further configured to: receive a firststart page request from a first terminal, said first start page requestinitiating a page activity between the first terminal and one or moreterminating terminals, and wherein the first start page request includesinformation identifying the one or more terminating terminals, forwardthe first start page request to a session controller; and receive fromthe session controller a first control signal containing informationidentifying which of the one or more terminals associated with theservice gateway is a terminating terminal, wherein the first controlsignal is conveyed by the session controller in response to a secondstart page request from a different service gateway.
 13. The servicegateway of claim 12, wherein the control signal distributor isconfigured to: convey control signals to the reflector indicating whichterminals coupled to the first service gateway are to receive mediapackets during a page activity; convey control signals to the propagatorindicating which service gateways are to receive media packets targetedto terminals that are not coupled to the first service gateway; andconvey a second control signal to each of the terminating terminals inresponse to receiving the first control signal.
 14. A method of pagingin an IP-telephony system, the method comprising: conveying a mediapacket from a first terminal of a first node to a first service gatewayduring a page activity; wherein in response to determining one or moreterminating terminals are associated with one or more remote nodes,propagating the media packet from the first service gateway to one ormore other service gateways associated with the one or more terminatingterminals; wherein in response to determining one or more terminatingterminals are included in the first node, reflecting the media packetfrom the first service gateway back to the one or more terminatingterminals included in the first node; receiving a start page request atthe first service gateway initiating a page activity between a firstterminal and one or more terminating terminals; forwarding the startpage request from the service gateway to a session controller; and inresponse to receiving the start page request, the session controllerconveying one or more first control signals to one or more respectiveservice gateways, wherein each of said respective service gateways isdifferent from the first service gateway.
 15. The method of claim 14,wherein the start page request includes information identifying the oneor more terminating terminals; wherein each of said first controlsignals contains information identifying which of the one or moreterminating terminals is associated with a respective service gateway,the method further comprising each service gateway conveying one or moresecond control signals to each of its associated terminating terminalsin response to the first control signal.
 16. The method of claim 15,further comprising: the first terminal conveying a media packet to thefirst service gateway of the one or more service gateways during a pageactivity; and the first service gateway forwarding said media packet toone or more designated terminating terminals, wherein informationcontained in at least one of said first control signals identifies thedesignated terminating terminals.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising each terminating terminal entering an active state inresponse to receiving the second control signal, wherein in the activestate, each terminating terminal is configured to translate receivedmedia packets into telephony signals.
 18. The method of claim 15,further comprising: the first terminal conveying a media packet to thefirst service gateway of the one or more service gateways during a pageactivity; and the first service gateway forwarding said media packet toa second service gateway of one of the one or more service gateways,wherein information contained in at least one of said first controlsignals identifies the second service gateway.
 19. The method of claim18, further comprising the second service gateway forwarding said mediapacket to one or more designated terminating terminals, whereininformation contained in at least one of said first control signalsidentifies the designated terminating terminals.
 20. The method of claim15, further comprising the first terminal conveying an end page requestto terminate a page activity.
 21. A method of coordinating paging in anIP-telephony service gateway, the method comprising: wherein a firstterminal of a first node is configured to convey a media packet to theservice gateway during a page activity; wherein in response to theservice gateway receiving a media packet and the service gatewaydetermining one or more terminating terminals are associated with one ormore remote nodes, the propagator is configured to propagate the mediapacket to one or more other service gateways associated with the one ormore terminating terminals; wherein in response to the service gatewaydetermining one or more terminating terminals are included in the firstnode, the reflector is configured to reflect the media packet back tothe one or more terminating terminals included in the first node;receiving a first start page request from a first terminal, said firststart page request initiating a page activity between the first terminaland one or more terminating terminals; forwarding the first start pagerequest to a session controller; and receiving from the sessioncontroller a first control signal containing information identifyingwhich of the one or more terminals associated with the service gatewayis a terminating terminal, wherein the first control signal is conveyedby the session controller in response to a second start page requestfrom a different service gateway.
 22. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising: conveying a second control signal to each of the terminatingterminals in response to receiving the first control signal; conveyingcontrol signals to a reflector indicating which terminals coupled to theservice gateway are to receive media packets during a page activity; andconveying control signals to a propagator indicating which servicegateways are to receive media packets targeted to terminals that are notcoupled to the service gateway; receiving a media packet from the firstterminal during a page activity; forwarding said media packet to one ormore designated terminating terminals, wherein information contained inthe first control signal identifies the designated terminatingterminals; and forwarding said media packet to one or more additionalservice gateways, wherein information contained in the first controlsignal identifies the one or more additional service gateways.
 23. Themethod of claim 22, wherein the start page request includes informationidentifying the one or more terminating terminals.
 24. A non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium containing instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor in an IP-telephony service gateway, enable thegateway to: wherein in response to receiving a media packet from a firstterminal of a first node during a page activity and determining one ormore terminating terminals are associated with one or more remote nodes,propagate the media packet to one or more other service gatewaysassociated with the one or more terminating terminals; wherein inresponse to determining one or more terminating terminals are includedin the first node, reflect the media packet back to the one or moreterminating terminals included in the first node; receive a first startpage request from a first terminal, said first start page requestinitiating a page activity between the first terminal and one or moreterminating terminals; forward the first start page request to a sessioncontroller; and receive from the session controller a first controlsignal containing information identifying which of the one or moreterminals associated with the service gateway is a terminating terminal,wherein the first control signal is conveyed by the session controllerin response to a second start page request from a different servicegateway.
 25. The medium of claim 24, further comprising instructionsthat when executed enable the gateway to: convey a second control signalto each of the terminating terminals in response to receiving the firstcontrol signal; convey control signals to a reflector indicating whichterminals coupled to the gateway are to receive media packets during apage activity; convey control signals to a propagator indicating whichother service gateways are to receive media packets targeted toterminals that are not coupled to the gateway; receive a media packetfrom the first terminal during a page activity; forward said mediapacket to one or more designated terminating terminals, whereininformation contained in the first control signal identifies thedesignated terminating terminals; and forward said media packet to oneor more additional service gateways, wherein information contained inthe first control signal identifies the one or more additional servicegateways.